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Season's greetings one and all! We hope your Christmas breaks are treating you well. The period has been so packed that this article has been ridiculously delayed as the Liverpool core event is now nearly a month ago, but we have finally finished it for you as an early Christmas present.

The long awaited Liverpool Northern Monkey returned on November 24th for the SWA’s second core event of 2017/18. Equipped with a swanky windsurfing venue, horrendously cheap drinks and a delightful Winter Windsurf Wonderland fancy dress theme, they had over 80 windsurfers from near and far gagging to be part of the action.

After a year apart, the SWA returned to Bristol for the first Core Event of the year: BaBrUWE Wet Dreams 8! With the combined forces Bristol, UWE and newly-reformed Bath organising the event, expectations were high. A hundred and fifty students made the journey down (or up) on Friday night, excited at the prospect of not sleeping in a tent and ready to see what Bristol has to offer…

In 2016 Aussie Kiss changed it’s format, and for the first time in the event’s history students were permitted to camp right at Roadford Reservoir. This made the event the most intimate experience yet. Camping is always a fun and social way to escape the stress of urban living and breathe in the country fresh air to chill out for a weekend. With no travel requirements Saturday or Sunday it’s as easy as rolling out of bed on onto a Windsurf… Just the way we like it.

It’s likely that most of those looking to attend Aussie Kiss have spent a night in a tent, but it’s always worth skimming our top camping tips to be sure you’re up to scratch and you don’t forget any campsite essentials!

Last weekend over three hundred of you made the journey to Roadford Lake in Devon to celebrate the super sweet sixteenth birthday of our favourite student windsurfing festival, Aussie Kiss. It was a weekend of wind, rain, and quite a lot of mud, but us windsurfers are a sturdy bunch, and we didn't let the weather hold us back. Having now returned to the comforts of four walls, radiators and duvets, it's time to reflect back on the weekend in an attempt to beat the PED (that's Post Event Depression, if you weren't sure).

Things kicked off on the Friday, with minibuses, kit vans, a selection of cars and a stray coach arriving across the evening, ready for the first big night in the party tent. A special mention goes to the University of Limerick, who not only had to get on an actual plane to get there, but were also unfortunately involved in a car accident on the drive from the airport. They didn't let this hold them back however, and made it in time for the party. As the rain came down, the final tents were pitched and everyone migrated to the spectacular dome tent for a wild night of catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones, under the influence of some great music and the second most abundant fluid of the night (after the rain): alcohol.

  

Aussie Kiss - The Good the Bad and the Bubbly.

‘Aussie Kiss’ is a phrase that is almost as old as the SWA with almost as strong of a reputation. It is the crown jewel of the SWA event series eagerly anticipated by many every year whilst spoken about for many months to come. Every year it stands as the proud SWA beacon that welcomes fresh faced Windsurfers to its warming glow. It shakes down the end of summer blues and reignites the windsurfing spark in everyone’s heart. It is, quite frankly, only just shy of a national treasure. For those reading this, in which this phrase is but a poorly considered innuendo, read on, for over the space of the next 3 minutes we shall enlighten you to your new found pasture of student windsurfing revelry!

 

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